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By Dave Sully
( Thorold , Ontario ) Modified driver Scott George from Wilson, NY, has not had a lot of success at Merrittville, but a fourth place finish in the previous race indicated his team was on to something, and that came to fruition on Saturday, August 11th, as George steered his No. 9G, owned by Wayne Kendrick of Ft. Erie, to a convincing win in the thirty-five lap feature, his first Merrittville win ever. Starting eighth in the seventeen car field, George took the lead from Robbie Krull on lap nineteen and promptly drove away to an easy win.
Krull set the early pace from the pole, but was under constant surveillance from nineteen year old rookie Chris Steele, a graduate of the tough open wheel lite division, and veteran Dan Miller, who hounded him constantly before being joined by George on lap nine. George dispatched Miller and then set his sights on Steele, claiming the spot when the rookie slid wide in turn four on lap sixteen.
It took only three laps for George to solve Krull, driving by on the outside in turn two as Krull desperately tried to hold him off. Once George cleared the No. 123 of Krull, he turned the race into a battle for second, as he checked out on the field in the caution-free event.
From then on the best race was a pitched battle between Krull and Steele, with the veteran Krull ultimately prevailing. Steele, Miller, and Brian Stevens made up the rest of the top five.
George credited a change in the setup as the key to his win, noting, “We changed the shocks around tonight and the car was much better. I just drove the heck out of it on the top and whatever was going to happen happened. There were guys on the bottom. I’m not going to follow them if I can run the top, so I just kept plugging away at the top and we came out the winner tonight.”
Another driver scored his first ever Merrittville win, his first win period, and it was a member of the famed Willard clan who turned the trick, as seventeen year old BJ Willard, son of all time sportsman win king, Bill Willard, nephew of two time sportsman champ Tammy Willard and cousin of the McPherson brothers Tyler, who also drives a sportsman, and Cody the up and coming Hoosier stock pilot, led all twenty-five laps from the pole to score the victory.
It wasn’t easy for young Willard, from St. Catharines , as he was shadowed much of the way by newly crowned Lucas Oil Sportsman champ Chad Chevalier, who didn’t give the second year sportsman driver much time to relax. Chevalier, running the low line was able to close on Willard in the turns, but the No. 77 of Willard was stronger on the straightaways and was able to keep him at bay until a caution flew on lap twenty-four, setting up a one lap dash to the checkers.
As the field took the green for the final time Chevalier made a bold move to the outside in turn two but got loose and dropped back, surrendering second to Bill Bleich. He righted the ship and was trying to make a final challenge in turn four when there was contact between him and Darren Zumpe, causing him to drop to fifth, but he was ultimately placed in fourth, ahead of Zumpe, who was penalized for rough driving. Through it all young Willard kept his composure and crossed the line just ahead of Bleich. Alan Sleight came up from twelfth to finish third, followed by Chevalier and Zumpe.
As one might expect, Willard was ecstatic with the win, declaring, “It’s unbelievable. I’m so happy. It’s unbelievable. I can’t be the one (in the family) who hasn’t won one yet, so I’m finally there.” Of the race, he added, “I just tried to keep my line and stay smooth. I didn’t see any doors during the race, so I figured I was running a fast line.” Regarding the caution on lap twenty-four, he observed, “My heart sank. I couldn’t believe it, but looking up at the board and seeing all those big names behind me, I knew my dad raced against all those guys. I have a lot of respect for them. I tried to keep my line and race clean, and I came away with the win. With all those big names behind me I didn’t want to get those last lap jitters. I kept yelling at myself, ‘You can do it. You led this far. You can do it.’” He did, and another Willard entered the record books as a winner.
The Hoosier stocks put on another bruising battle, with point leader Rob Murray from St. Catharines , adding to his advantage by scoring his fifth win. Murray bolted up from eleventh to challenge leader Kirk Wilson on lap five, and then claimed the top spot on lap eight. The race wasn’t over, as four time winner Jeff Dayman rose to challenge and dogged him the rest of the way. Young Cody McPherson joined the fray over the final laps as well, but Murray held on for the win. Dayman, McPherson, Wilson, and Bill Hogue comprised the rest of the top five.
In the open wheel lites, Shawn Sliter from Pt. Colborne, scored his third win of the season, holding off ten time winner Paul Klager to do it. Sliter went off twelfth, but was in the lead by lap six. Klager took second on lap eight and spent the rest of the race trying to solve Sliter, but couldn’t get a good run on him the rest of the way. Klager ended up second, followed by Wayne Robins, Kellie Mason, and Adam Leslie to round out the top five.
The mini stock feature was won by Abel Castelein from Caledonia , who was racing under the cloud of his son Matt, who was seriously injured in an auto accident. Castelein went wire to wire to win for the fourth time, beating a fast closing Trevor Goulding, who overcame a penalty for jumping the start to mount a serious challenge at the end.
Finally, a field of forty-five enduro cars staged their typical wild and entertaining race in the Konzelmann Estate Winery Qualifier, with Dan McNeil, James Mercer, who started thirty-third, Terry McNeil, Andy Jankowiak, and Ben Garner, who went off thirtieth, comprising the top five.
NOTES: The caution free modified event marked a streak of 130 consecutive caution free laps for the division, going back to the final ninety-five laps of the Trevor Wilkins Memorial SDS race on Monday…………….In an ironic twist, neither car owner, Kendrick or Willard was on hand for the initial victories by their drivers, Scott George and BJ Willard………..There were ninety-four regular race cars, plus forty-five enduros in the pits on a beautiful night for racing……….Sportsman driver Jim Johnstone was back in action after a nasty flip the night before at Ransomville in the Lucas Oil Shootout. The crew worked most of the night and the following afternoon to repair serious rear end damage. Johnstone started sixth in the twenty-five lap feature and finished seventh.
L. St. Amand Modifieds: (35 laps) Scott George, Robbie Krull, Chris Steele, Dan Miller, Brian Stevens, Larry Lampman Jr., Scott Wood, Chad Brachmann, Pete Bicknell, Dereck Lemyre, Ken Cosgrove, Rick Richner, Todd Gordon, Boyd Mactavish, Tim Jones, George Bosse, and Roger Chrysler. Heat winners were Miller and Gordon.
Original Pizza Logs Sportsman: (25 laps) BJ Willard, Bill Bleich, Alan Sleight, Chad Chevalier, Darren Zumpe, Wayne Conn, Jim Johnstone, Brandon Easey, Tyler McPherson, Mat Williamson, Mike Bowman, Travis Braun, Norm Mark, Brad Rouse, Nick Cupolo, Justin Sharp, Ken Winfield, James Friesen, Rick Bellante, Robbie Rounce, Doug Erskine, Mark D’Ilario, Robbie Knapp, and Derek Wutzke. Heat winners were Knapp, Zumpe, and Sleight.
Hoosier Stocks: (20 laps) Rob Murray, Jeff Dayman, Cody McPherson, Kirk Wilson, Bill Hogue, Peter Reid, Mike Dooley, Brent Begolo, Kevin Kocarik, Bill Bleich Jr., Jason Fontaine, Rob Disher, Adam Gracie, Barry Blanchard, Dave Small, Ron Kingsbury, Kevin Knapp, Vince Fargnoli, and Paul Wichert. Heat winners were Wilson, Knapp, and Dayman.
Lucas Oil Open Wheel Lites: Shawn Sliter, Paul Klager, Wayne Robins, Kellie Mason, Adam Leslie, Dave Rusell, Todd Kendrick, Kory Howe, Scott Billing, Andy Tallman, Lorne Collings, Dan Russell, Derek Bredin, Jamie Gilbert, Joel Szigatti, Josh Sliter, Malvin Jeffrey, Roger Shenstone, Mike Hay, Andrew Sittler, and Bob Bredin. Heat winners were Howe, Gilbert, and Mason.
Turn 4 Collision Minis: (15 laps) Abel Castelein, Trevor Goulding, Garnet Wilson, Rob Overholt, Terry Larmet, Greg Wilson, Jocelyn Wiley, Brandon Iuduciani, Mike Giberson, Charlie Lynch, Evan Curtis, Ed McLean, Baden Curtis, Mark Swayze, and Ken Kadwell. Heat winners were Larmet and Overholt.
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